Mechanical toy



Apr. 24, 1923.

W. L. GOLDMAN MECHANICAL TOY Filed Aug. 16, 1922 Inventor; "ff 122mm L. Goldman, new

Attor'iz 6y.

Patented Apr. 24, 1923.

stares insane PATENT car es.

WILLIAM L. GOLDMAN, DE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

MECHANICAL TOY.

Application filed August 16, 1922. Serial No. 582,185.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, WILLIAM L. GOLD- MAN, a citizenof the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Toys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanical toys and my principal object is to provide a device of this nature that is adapted to be actuated by gravity, and that will function automaticallyin transferring suitable masses from a relatively high, to a lower level.

Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter, and while I show herewith and will describe a preferred form of construction, I desire to be understood that I do not limit myself to such preferred form, but that various changes and adaptations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention as hereinafter I claimed.

These objects are attained by-the device illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in

'whicha Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete toy.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the left hand end of the toy seen in Fig. 1. This section is taken on the longitudinal center line of the device, and is drawn on a much enlarged scale. Certain of the parts are in different operative positions in Figs. 1 and '2. Figure 3 is a side elevation of the bucket constituting a part of this toy, when it is in the act of dump- Tigure 4 is a plan view of the right hand wheels and axle of the trolley car with its body removed. This view shows the winding drum as mounted upon this axle.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The principal elements of my toy comprise a car 1, mounted upon four flanged wheels 2, and adapted to run in either direction upon the inclined rail-s 3. The latter are supported in an elevated position upon standards 4, and are spaced, without cross obstructions between these standards. The standards themselves are aflixed to the base 5.

The right hand axle 6 has its respective wheels 2 aflixed thereto and, in addition,

carries the flanged drum 7 which also is affixed to this axle.

The two flexible cords 8 each have one end attached to right hand standard 4 and, after making a a turn about drum 7 in the manner indicated, depend from the latter to support bucket 9. This two-part bucket hoist should have its cords spaced as far as practicable at their fixed ends as well as at the drum and bucket. In this manner the double sus- 6 pended bucket is made relatively free from any tendency to twist and normally maintains its proper angular relation to the other elements of the device. 1

It will be obvious that when the car is sufficiently loaded and the bucket empty, the

former will tend to run downwards on its inclined rails, and that this action will result in hoisting the bucket and transporting it to the left.

Conversely when the bucket with its load overbalances the resisting force exerted by the car, the latter will be drawn upwardon its inclined track while'the bucket is descending from an elevated position at the left, to a ower position at the right.

For actuating the device, I prefer to use spherical masses of substantially uniform weight, such as the marbles indicated by 10. There is an elevated hopper 11, at the left, in which a number of such marbles may be deposited. From this hopper they are automatically lowered by bucket 9 to base 5 in a manner presently to be explained. During this process the car is raised to the upper end of its incline. It returns to the lower end of the incline, by its own gravity, when the bucket has been unloaded, and in so doing raises the empty bucket to a proper position for reloading it at the left. 95

The automatic features of the device may now be described.

The elevated hopper 11 is slightly inclined downward toward the right, and the marbles therefore dispose themselves at the right band end. These marbles are fed to the The right hand marble 16, of the series in the hopper, is normally supported by escapement bar over the opening 17 in the floor of the hopper. hen car 1, in its descent, kicks bar 14 to the left, the escapemen't bar is thrown to the left also, and assumes a position at the left of slot 18 through'which it passes. Marble 16 is then freed and falls into chute 19 and thence into bucket 9, which is in position to receive it when the escapement is being operated by the car. The succeeding marble 20 is prevented from immediately following 16 by the escapement bar.

The loaded bucket, at this stage 01 the operation, overbalances the weight component of the car, and the latter starts up the incline track while the bucket begins its descent toward the right hand end of the base.

As the car starts on its upward journey kick bar it is released. The gravity moment of the escapement, assisted by the pressure ofthe marbles in hopper 11, causes eseapement bar 15 to resume its normal position, as shown in Fig. 2, with a marble resting upon it ready to repeat the escaping process.

It will be noted that bucket 9 is provided with legs 21 at the left side. Asthe bucket lands on the base, these legs strike first, and serve to tip the bucket, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the contained marble rolls out. ithout its load the weight oi the bucket is over balanced by the opposing force exerted by the car. The car then rolls down the incline, the bucket is raised to its loading position, the escapement is operated and another marble rolls out and into the bucket. This series of operations continues to be repeated automatically so long as there are any marbles in hopper ll.

The space within the body of the car is for the purpose of filling with leade-n shot, sand, or similar material as 22, to regulate the performance of the toy. The car with its load must be heavy enough to raise the empty bucket. On the other hand the bucket, with its load of one marble, must be heavy enough to pull the loaded car up the incline. The necessary adjustment of forces is made by varying the loading of the car.

Attention is called to the raised edge 23 around base 5 to keep the marbles that are spilled from the bucket from rolling on the floor. I also desire to point out that the cords 8 may each make a. number of turns, it desired, around drum 7 and thereby secure greater frictional contact therewith.

I claim as my invention:

1. A. mechanical toy comprising an inclined elevated track; a car adapted for opration on said tracks and having a drum on an axle thereof; a bucket so suspended from said drum that operative elevational changes in said car will result in inverse eleva'tional changes in said bucket; and au tomatic means for alternately loading and discharging said bucket in cycles to cause elevational changes therein.

2. A mechanical toy comprising an inclined elevated track; a car adapted foroperation on said track; a bucket suspended from said car and adapted to cooperate therewith to cause operative elevational changes in the one to result in inverse elevational changes in the other; an elevated inclined hopper adapted to discharge into said bucket in its elevated position, and an escapement adapted to be operated by said car to release masses from said hopper into said bucket.

3. A mechanical toy comprising an inclined elevated track; a car adapted for operation on said track; a bucket adapted to cooperate with said car so that mutually in verse elevational changes will result from an elevational change of either; an elevated inclined hopper adapted to discharge into said bucket in its elevated position; and an escapement adapted to be operated by said car in the lowest position of its cycle to release masses from said hopper into vsaid bucket.

WILLIAM L. GOLDMAN. 

